Rosemary-Crumb Beef Tenderloin with Pancetta-Roasted Tomatoes

A beef tenderloin roast is a boon for the host and a treat for family or guests during the holidays. Many big-box stores sell them at a reasonable price, and when trimmed, there's no wastejust solid meat. Cooking the roast doesn't tie up your oven for long, and once it's done, it couldn't be easier to carve. Between the green of the rosemary and the red of the grape tomatoes, the sauce is festive with color and loaded with bright flavor.

Preparation

Heat oven to 500°F with rack in middle.

Make a deep cut into the top side of tenderloin, about 4 inches from tail end, to facilitate folding the tail end under the roast to give the meat a more uniform thickness. Tie roast at 1-inch intervals with kitchen string.

Cook pancetta in a large rimmed baking sheet in oven, stirring once, until fat is rendered and pancetta is crisp, 4 to 8 minutes. Transfer pancetta with a slotted spoon to a bowl.

Add tomatoes and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper to fat in rimmed baking sheet and stir, then roast in oven 15 minutes.

Stir in garlic and olives and roast until tomatoes are falling apart and browned in patches, 2 to 4 minutes.

Cooks' Notes:
Whole tenderloins can come in various stages of trimming, particularly those from big-box stores. Some still have the chain attacheda long, thin, loose muscle hanging onto one side of the tenderloinwhich you'll want to remove and save for something like kebabs. (Either ask the butcher to do the honors or do it yourself.) Whether the tenderloin comes trimmed (a.k.a. peeled) or not, make sure there is no fat or silverskin left on the outside. If there is, remove it yourself with a sharp knife.
Tomato mixture can be made 1 day ahead and chilled. Reheat before proceeding with recipe.

my notes

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Recent Review

This beef was tasty, but the cooking time estimate was way different for me. and to produce a medium rare roast to a temp of 130 our cooking time had to be extended by an hour. Our entire dinner was delayed which was not great. The pancetta roasted tomato was also not incredibly flavorful.